University departments around campus, including Ramsey Student Center, the Physical Plant and Food Services, have implemented water-saving initiatives in response to the North Georgia drought.

The University asked its departments “to be sensitive to the drought condition,” said Mitch Gartenberg, director of Ramsey and recreational sports. “So we met with the staff and came up with the things you see on the signs.”

The signs, which hang on doors, in windows and above water fountains, promote simple things Ramsey users can do to curb water use – taking shorter showers, turning off sinks while brushing teeth and reporting leaks.

“We aren’t timing showers,” he said regarding the two-minute shower time suggested on the signs. “But we want (Ramsey users) to be cognizant of how much water they’re using.”

Physical Plant Utility Director Ken Crowe also emphasized the importance of students reporting leaks at Ramsey and everywhere else on campus. “We would love to have 30,000 sets of eyes and ears,” he said.

The Physical Plant has suspended most outside watering as a result of the Level 4 ban implemented last month. The few pieces of land still allowed to be watered are those with rare plants, fresh landscaping and construction sites, Crowe said. Those areas, though, are being watered by trucked-in water from Lake Herrick.

The rest of the campus will have to wait on rain.

“North Campus is dry as a bone,” Crowe said. “We’d like it to look pretty, but it’s not going to look pretty.”

Trucking in water might also be an option for Sanford Stadium, said Assistant Athletic Director Charlie Whittemore, but not an ideal solution.

“We can’t get a truck into the stadium very easily,” he said. Plus, running trucks with enough water onto the field “could be more detrimental than beneficial.”

Food Services also has made adjustments to conserve water, such as pressure washing only sticky spots, said Director J. Michael Floyd.

If the drought worsens, more conservation measures could appear, including in the “most extreme case,” the decrease of hours at some facilities, such as the recreational pool at Ramsey, Gartenberg said. Right now, though, “we’re monitoring water usage in the pool but not taking any action yet,” he said.